Parse this sentence.

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	Anonymous  #186122  Fri, 20 Jan 06 03:23 AM She glorified God by giving back to Him the very thing He desired.  "by giving back"  --  "back"  --  "back to Him"  -- What are these combinations?    Anonymous

	rvw  #186280  Fri, 20 Jan 06 01:20 PM She glorified God by giving back to Him the very thing He desired. She:  subject glorified:  verb God:  direct object  by giving back to Him the very thing He desired:  prepositional phrase, which modifies glorified giving back:  gerund (noun) from the phrasal verb to give back, which means to return to Him:  prepositional phrase which modifies giving back. (Him would be the indirect object if to were omitted and the phrasing were by giving Him back....) the very thing He desired:  the direct object of giving back    rvw Joined on Sun, Nov 28 2004 Woodstock, Georgia, USA Full Member (350)
Select Tags... SaveCancel Direct objects, Gerunds, Indirect objects, Nouns, Phrasal verbs, Verbs

	goldmund  #186291  Fri, 20 Jan 06 01:58 PM Dear friends, It is perhaps possible to say also that «he desired» is a defining relative clause that modifies «the very thing». Kind regards, Goldmund    goldmund Joined on Fri, Jun 10 2005 Regular Member (581) «Tout homme peut dire véritablement; mais dire ordonnément, prudemment et suffisamment, peu d'hommes le peuvent.» - Michel de Montaigne
Clauses, Regards

	rvw  #186565  Sat, 21 Jan 06 02:23 AM Right.  I stopped parsing too soon. thing:  direct object of giving back the: definite article modifying thing very: adjective, meaning precise, modifying thing He desired:  short for that He desired; an adjective clause modifying thing    rvw
Articles, Clauses, Definite articles, Direct objects

	paco2004  #186606  Sat, 21 Jan 06 04:52 AM Please have a look at 186142. paco    paco2004 Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004 Senior Member (4,095) In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

	rvw  #186639  Sat, 21 Jan 06 07:27 AM So you consider back a separate adverb rather than giving back a phrasal verb?  Mary Ansell's English Grammar: Explanations and Exercises (http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/durus/153/gramch27.html),  dictionary.com, and Webster's Third New International Dictionary treat giving back as a phrasal verb. Ansell puts give back in the same category as: chop down fend off iron out put away They all have a transitive verb followed by an adverb. But they are treated as phrases.    rvw
Adverbs, English grammar, Grammar, Phrasal verbs, Verbs

	paco2004  #186648  Sat, 21 Jan 06 08:28 AM Hello RVW It will depend on how to interpret the word "parse". If I have to classify each word into parts of speech, I'll classify "back" as an adverb rather than a preposition, because we can say "give him back something". I have no intention to oppose the idea of taking "give back" as a phrasal verb. paco    paco2004
Adverbs, Phrasal verbs, Prepositions, Verbs

	Anonymous  #432946  Sun, 21 Oct 07 08:11 AM PHRASAL VERB = VERB + PREPOSITIONAL VERB    Anonymous
Phrasal verbs, Prepositional verbs, Verbs

	Anonymous  #484257  Mon, 03 Mar 08 03:54 AM  "by giving back" is a prepositional phrase acting as an adverb to modify the verb 'glorified'  "back" is an adverb of position "back to him" is a combination of the adverb 'back' and the prepositional phrase 'to him' which is acting as an adverb of direction (answers the question 'where' or 'to whom')     Anonymous
Adverbs, Verbs, Whom